Dodgers Web musings: Where Ethier’s hitting streak fails to translate

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Through the gloomy start to the Dodgers season, Andre Ethier’s hitting streak has been a pleasant ray of hope, or at least distraction.

He pushed it to 30 consecutive games Friday night, though MLB.com’s Tom Singer warns this is when it now gets tough. Singer said only 53 players in baseball history have ever had a 30-game hitting streak.

His stunner: 20 of those 53 never made it to 31. Thirty-eight percent stopped at 30. Ethier needs one more to tie Willie Davis’ club record.

Ethier has said he’s enjoyed the streak, but it’s hardly translated into a team winning streak. The Times’ Dylan Hernandez said there’s something of an awkward dynamic going on while Ethier continues to hit away, while the team has lost five of its last six.

ESPN/LA’s Tony Jackson calls Ethier’s streak a ‘pleasant diversion’’ from the team struggles. He said the Dodgers are just 13-18 during the streak, as opposed to the Yankees going 41-13-2 (individual stats held up from games called with the score tied).

-- CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler said Ethier could not have appeared more relaxed in meeting the New York media horde and discussing his streak.

Friday saw the return of Don Mattingly to New York as a manager for the first time, and he received plenty of attention too.

-- The New York Times’ David Waldstein said Mattingly’s experience playing for George Steinbrenner helped him prepare for the circus currently surrounding Dodgers ownership.

-- The New York Daily News’ Filip Bondy said being the right man in the wrong spot is something of a career theme for Mattingly.

-- The New Jersey Record’s Bob Klapisch said that throughout the ownership crisis, Mattingly has shown to be calm without being soft.

-- In a video, Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman takes a look at Mattingly the manager:

-- The Times’ Bill Shaikin reports Frank McCourt doesn’t plan to appeal to his fellow owners when they meet next week. Apparently he can recognize a stacked hand.

-- The Times’ Shelby Grad reports that the family of the Giants fan severely beaten on opening day at Dodger Stadium, Bryan Stow, worries whether he can recover from his brain injury.

-- CBS Sports’ Scott Miller writes that the more McCourt talks to the media, the more it becomes clear: ‘It’s like listening to a second-grader.’’

-- And for those who have always wondered what MikeSciosciasTragicIllness’s Mike Petriello looked like -- now, don’t pretend you haven’t -- here’s a video of Petriello being interviewed on the Dodgers-Mets series by Ted Berg on SNY.

-- Steve Dilbeck